Anne Thornton, owner of Apples Acres on Union Valley Road, generously donated ½ an acre of her property to Sustainable West Milford for our Community Garden. Transforming the fallow, former cow pasture into a thriving vegetable garden proved to be a challenge!

Several dedicated SWM members spent weeks preparing the land.  The overgrown meadow first needed to be marked out and then the chest high weeds were cleared.  Volunteers used machetes, sickles and hand held brush trimmers.  Anne's neighbor, Pete, lent us his brush mower to finish off the job.

Volunteers fought with tangled vines, battled poison ivy, and wrestled with stubborn undergrowth.  Finally, victory was theirs!

Once the weeds, brush and saplings in the meadow were cut down the volunteers began the tedious task of raking up all of the fallen material.  The plant matter was heaped together and this was the beginning of our compost pile!

Next it was time for stump removal.  Cut down sapling stumps were dug up and thrown in a brush pile.

We then tilled the land over several times over to rid the meadow of lingering weeds, vines and grass.  Volunteers raked and pulled the last of the weeds, finally seeing an open field of gorgeous, fertile dirt!

The next step in our process was to map out the plots.  Each individual plot was measured at 8x8 feet and two communal garden areas were marked out too.

Mountains of manure were shoveled into wheel barrows and dispersed throughout the Garden.  Volunteers piled each marked section with manure, making sure every plot got a little organic fertilizer.  The manure was generously “donated” from local horse stables.

We decided to use woodchips in the walkways between the plots to help keep the weeds down.  A local tree service dropped off woodchips at no charge.  Volunteers then conquered the task of spreading mountains of woodchips over all of the walkways throughout the Garden.

Finally, after only three intense weeks of incredibly hard work, it was time for the Grand Opening!